Politics: Nationwide Debates About Syrian Refugees

After last week’s attacks on Paris, at least 21 Republican governors have pledged to block Syrian refugees from entering their states, and Republicans in congress have called for a halt to all refugees entering the country—or at least those that are Muslim. However, experts in The New York Times and Mic say that individual states have little say in immigration policy, so they will have to accept refugees even if they don’t want to. Democrats have also responded by pointing out that the U.S. has a meticulous screening process for anyone wishing to enter the country as a refugee. The sudden backlash is due to concerns that the Paris attackers were Syrian refugees in France, since investigators found a Syrian passport near an attacker on Friday and there is some evidence that one of the attackers entered Greece as a refugee. The Obama administration said this week that it has no intention of turning away displaced Syrians.